SAN
DIEGO,
Calif. — A little more than a mile away from the ocean,
underneath a

Backed by two runs in the bottom of the seventh,
San Diego State squeaked by USC 2-1 in a Tuesday night game at
San Diego's Tony Gwynn Stadium. Despite tallying only three
base hits, the Aztecs were able to score enough to improve their
record to 4-1 and give the Trojans (3-1) their first defeat of
the young season.

Entering the game in the seventh with a Trojans’
1-0 lead, USC reliever Philip Urso (0-1) had a nightmarish
inning in which the Aztecs scored both runs on two of his
mistakes, a bases-loaded balk and a wild pitch. The 6-foot-6,
245-pound right-hander began the inning by hitting Aztecs second
baseman Garett Green with a pitch and then surrendered a single
to Brandon Glover on a smoked ground ball to center field.
Green advanced to third on the base hit. With runners on first
and third with no outs, Urso rebounded by getting freshman
rightfielder Cory Vaughn to ground into a 5-2-5 fielder’s choice
where Green got tagged out by in a short run-down. With runners
on first and second, DH Cameron Johnson hit into another
fielder’s choice, a ground ball that was bobbled by USC third
baseman Roberto Lopez, but he was able to force out Vaughn at
second on the throw by an eyelash. All of the sudden it looked
like Urso might get out of the jam scathe free, but he hit his
second hitter of the inning with a pitch, leftfielder Pat
Colwell, to load the bases. Just as catcher Brett Tanos stepped
into the batter’s box, the Trojans’ reliever was called for a
balk, which scored Glover from third and advanced the other
runners with two outs. Tanos eventually worked it to a full
count and Urso threw a wild pitch ball four that enabled Johnson
to score the go-ahead run from third. USC catcher Robert Stock
tried to backhand Urso's offering in the dirt, but was unable to
control it, rolling past him.

Both starters pitched brilliant games, but did
not factor into the decision. Kevin Couture, the Trojans’
sophomore right-hander from nearby Coronado, threw six shutout
innings, allowed two hits, surrendered three walks and fanned
six Aztecs batters. The only two hits Couture gave up were on
doubles into the gaps off the bat of Vaughn (2 for 3), the
Aztecs freshman who has been turning heads to start the season.
He's the son of famed big-leaguer Greg Vaughn, a former teammate
of San Diego State manager Tony Gwynn. On the other side,
starting pitcher Shane Kaufman gave San Diego State an admirable
effort by going six innings and allowing one earned run. The
senior right-hander gave up six hits, walked one and punched out
four batters.

The Trojans' lone run came off Kaufman in the top
of fifth. USC shortstop Hector Rabago (1 for 4) led off the
inning by ripping a line-drive double off the wall in left
field. Rabago advanced to third on Anthony Vasquez's sacrifice
bunt and scored on Lopez's ground-ball, RBI single to left. SDSU
third baseman Nick Romero was playing shallow on the grass and
Lopez was able to shoot it past his grasp for the base hit. USC
had an opportunity in this inning to tag on additional runs
after Trojans’ second baseman Joe De Pinto (1 for 3) singled on
a screaming line drive to right on a hit-and-run play that
advanced Lopez to third. San Diego State was able to stop USC's
momentum when the catcher Tanos gunned down De Pinto on a
base-stealing attempt of second. Kaufman got out of the inning
by getting leftfielder Mike O'Neill (1 for 4) to fly out.

Up
until the bottom of the seventh inning when the Aztecs took the
2-1 lead, USC's Stock (pictured right) might have been the story
of the game. The 18-year-old sophomore phenom put an end to two
Aztecs rallies by gunning down base stealing attempts at second.
Stock threw out Aztecs shortstop Troy Hanzawa in the third to
finish the inning and did it again in the sixth by nailing
Romero for the second out. The 2005 Baseball America Youth
Player of the Year was also a split-second from picking off
Vaughn at second in the fifth inning. At the plate, Stock was 1
for 4 with a single. The Aztecs’ best defensive play of the
evening occurred on Stock's first-inning single when DH Derek
Perren tried to advanced to third and was thrown out on a rope
of a throw from Glover, the Aztecs senior centerfielder.

San
Diego State's James McLaughlin (1-0) earned the victory after
throwing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. Southpaw Craig
Rasmussen came into the eighth with two outs to retire the
left-handed Perren after O'Neill hit a ground-ball single to
McLaughlin. Addison Reed (pictured left), the Aztecs freshman
closer, retired the final three batters in order and was
credited with his first save of the year. The small ball
victory was quite the contrast from the weekend when San Diego
St. averaged 11 runs and 14 hits per game in taking three of
four versus their crosstown rival in the University of San
Diego.

USC will try to bounce back on the road at UC
Irvine on Wednesday night where they play the 2-0 Anteaters
coming off their best season in school history. San Diego State
is off Wednesday and will co-host the USD Invitational from
Thursday to Sunday.